The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2010) with trailer

A film about a mad scientist (is there any other kind....?) who goes out to create a new species...the human centipede. As you can imagine, a lot of furore and controversy came about on the eve of the release of this horror flick, though anyone who has seen it would know it really isn't that sick or gruesome. As an ardent horror aficionado it was quite tame to be honest (though it may be due to the fact that I have become pretty desensitized by anything that is truly horrific with the amount of horror films I have seen).


The clichés of your modern horror movie are clear and present from the start. We follow two American tourist in Europe (Germany to be precise) who try to find their way to a trendy nightclub....where (of course!) they become lost and the car they travel in, receive a puncture. So far, so predictable...what's more predictable is their mobiles have no signal and they are stuck in the middle of nowhere (in the woods!). So they decide to venture out and after a couple of minutes they come across our mad surgeons house (where you can probably guess what's about to happen...).



Anyone looking for gross out gore will probably be a tad disappointed. It never reaches the depths of say, the Saw movies in terms of on-screen violence but it's the general idea which I think is suppose to be the sickening aspect of the film. To be honest, most of it is done with a great slab of black humour. To see them trying to work together and walk (maybe that should be crawl....) is actually quite amusing and it isn't because I have a sick sense of humour, though it may help if you wish to watch this film which includes a bowel movement that you may think is particularly in bad taste (pun intended).

The part played by the Dieter Laser (The surgeon Dr Hieter) is acted out extremely well and conveys a sense of controlled madness with his piercing mad wide-eyed stare which is so fitting to the role and adds so much to the film. No explanation is given as to why he is pursuing his quest to create the human centipede expect maybe for the fact he is an expert at separating Siamese twins. The acting by the two American girls (Ashley C Williams and Ashlynn Yennie) are passable but once they are sewn together to the unfortunate (or fortunate if you know what I mean) Japanese captive, they're "acting" becomes muffled screams and hand gestures....

The fact the film claims to be "medical accurate" (who am I to argue, I'm not going to find out either!) just adds to the controversy, but to re-iterate, the film is not at all gruesome and is in fact mildly amusing. It's not laugh out loud mind you, just you can tell the film makers are having fun with their topic subject. There are a few plot holes and some remarkably bad decisions made by the characters in the movie but without them, the narrative wouldn't be able to progress and we wouldn't get to the films U.S.P. which is to see what a human centipede looks like.....right? A tame but intriguing horror where the imagination and your belief in the films plausibility is tested (and maybe your stomach for those of you who are very faint hearted).


12/20